Running Away: Czech Republic

An enchanting experience

Soft surface trails give way to road only when necessary (although there is also the option of following the equally meticulous bike routes), and to double your distance (and sightseeing) without fear of being too fatigued for the return trip, it is simple to hop on a regional bus back to your accommodations, usually at a cost of less than a dollar. Rehydrating with world famous Czech beer is cheaper than drinking water, and in many larger towns, it is possible to receive a full body massage for about $12.

Czech running, then, is both the antidote to cobblestone-pounding around European capitals and a vacation in its own right. Just a 2.5-hour train ride from Prague is the medieval town of Trzebeshice, with its oft-photographed city square that’s actually a rectangle. The local castle belonged to Bohemia’s premier aristocratic family, who collected castles in the South Bohemian region and had an affinity for fishing. Thus they installed (if anything from the 14th century could be "installed") a system of lakes ringed by dozens of kilometers of trails. Baroque villages and peat bogs line the pathways, and the several-hundred-year-old oak trees that populate the landscape look like Otto Gutfreund sculptures.

Thanks to those bogs, Trzebeshice is also home to a handful of spas, where you can be buried in peat sludge or choose from an array of more traditional spa treatments. A 30-kilometer run will bring you to the storybook castle of Hluboka nad Vltavou by way of Cesky•Budejovice, hometown of the original Budweiser brewery (or by its Czech name, Budvar).

A short bus ride south leads to the UNESCO-protected Cesky Krumlov, the second most visited Czech polis after Prague, its castle complete with moat and bear pits. From Cesky Krumlov, eight kilometers along the gently ascending green- or yellow-marked trails takes you atop the highest peak in Bohemia from which it is possible to see the Alps.

An hour northeast of Prague is the nationally protected area known as Cesky Raj, or "Bohemian Paradise." Its 92 square kilometers are littered with castles, Gothic churches, and Baroque architecture, and 15 smooth trails ranging from 10 to 20-plus kilometers wind around massive sandstone rock formations dated to the Mesozoic era.

Across the country, cozy lodging for under $15 a night is plentiful, and the people who offer it will mother-hen your every need. The language barrier is rarely opaque, and charades count as cross-training. Furthermore, Czechs and runners share the common language of prziroda — nature, the great outdoors, and the drive to explore it. And when you go wandering by, they’ll make you feel like you’re a lap away from the gold medal. In every run in the Czech Republic, you can go for the pohár, the trophy, a word that also means ice cream sundae, which surely you can get your hands on afterwards.